Like many of you, we’ve not long returned from the IRRV Annual Conference and Exhibition 2025 and, once again, the event proved invaluable. As always, it’s the perfect opportunity to catch-up with so many of our customers, as well as meet new faces, and share automation stories about the real benefits and value our solutions are providing for councils all over the country.
This year’s theme, ‘Promoting Professional Standards to Deliver Excellence and Innovation’, was well suited as we continue to encourage councils to start their automation journeys to free-up their resources and skilled workers. We heard from numerous councils that the “backlog in Council Tax work is relentless” so, if we can provide a means to tackle this burden and reduce the strain, we are happy to play our part.
True automation
One of our customers shared the importance of automation transparency; how being able to see what they are achieving, how many transactions have been processed and quantify the resources they have saved is indispensable. Not only does automation help ensure the team can keep to their high service delivery standards but also demonstrate its huge ROI.
A London Borough shared with us that, just 12 months after going live, the Collection Plan for 2025-26 is almost £2 million ahead of schedule and “the only explanation for this” is the additional resources now being directed into collection that were previously being consumed by manual billing administration.
In a time where budgets are stretched further and Revenues and Benefits teams are expected to do more with less, automation is seen as critical. We’ve mentioned in a previous blog post that automation can help councils’ future-proof their service and we held many conversations about this whilst at the conference, providing insights and real outcomes that our customers are achieving.
Karen with Cheshire East Council and Tameside MBC |
The team with Perth & Kinross Council |
Karen with Barnsley MBC |
The team with Manchester CC and Preston & Lancaster CC |
The team with the IRRV Immediate Past President |
The team with Preston & Lancaster CC |
The team with Salford CC |
The team with the winner of our automation competition |
Rebekah capturing video footage of Cheshire East Council |
What automation means to you
Day two at the conference brought an exciting addition to our team. Our Netcall colleague Rebekah joined us to capture video footage of our customers sharing what automation means for them, and the impact it’s having across their councils. It was fantastic to hear first-hand stories about how automation is making a real difference.
We’d like to extend a huge thank you to Bristol City Council, Cheshire East Council, Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council, and Lancaster City Council & Preston City Council for taking the time to speak on camera and share your experiences. Your insights are invaluable, and we can’t wait to see how the finished video brings these stories to life.
An extensions of your team
We also want to thank our customers who joined us for a social gathering while we were in Telford. It’s always great to step away from the conference setting and catch up in a more relaxed environment. Sharing good food, drinks, and stories reminds us that these relationships go beyond work – our customers really do feel like colleagues and friends.
The IRRV calendar is filling up
As another successful conference wraps up, we’re already looking ahead to the next. We’ve signed up for next year’s IRRV Spring, Scottish, and Annual events, as well as the regional IRRV gatherings. We’re excited to see everyone again, but of course, if you ever have an automation question or would like to know how it will work for your council, please contact us for an informal chat.
And finally, with the latest customer reports now out, our focus remains on helping everyone get the most from their automation and continue achieving more.
